I've been shamefully neglecting my livejournal, trying to network on twitter and keep up with election news. There used to be more of that going on here at LJ but as the action has moved, I've had to move with it. I am @tapati on twitter if you have a twitter account and want to follow me. One thing I do like is that if I am having a bad migraine day I can at least easily pass things on via RT.

My neck has been hurting more and more and causing migraines. I know I need a more ergonomic chair and that using my laptop is not good for it (as my docs warned me). I'm almost afraid to go back to my desktop computer. I think I had so much pain trying to work there in 2010 when my neck got so bad and I had the severe arm pain, when I had to flee to the laptop, that I have flashbacks or something whenever I think of sitting there. I am considering moving the desk away from where it is now in the hope that a new setting would lessen my anxiety.

My other hesitation is that now I am used to my laptop and all my bookmarks would have to be moved again. It was such a hassle moving TO the laptop suddenly that I am reluctant to go through that again. Remember, I even lost a friend who didn't believe that I didn't get the email when I moved to the laptop and we had a mix up about where my email got downloaded. [I never did find that email and I've tried.]

I just know this isn't working for me anymore and I have to do something. I know they told me my neck would hurt more. It was the deal I made to get rid of the much more severe arm pain. But I can minimize it by taking more care not to stress it.

My husband won two free tickets to see Mary Poppins at Broadway San Jose. It was truly amazing. There are changes from the movie (which was changed from the book) but it was still magical and since we'd never been to a professional musical before we also found it fascinating to watch the set changes and technical aspects.

We also won free organic produce as part of a promotion by Full Circle Farm, which is expanding into the Bay Area. So veggies and fruits have been coming right to our door once a week. I've never been able to afford as much organic produce as I'd have liked to--especially when I was raising my kids. The smallest size weekly delivery is 21.95 a week and it is a good way for me to use veggies I might otherwise not buy, getting me to expand my comfort zone and avoid cooking ruts. http://www.fullcircle.com/ for more info and if you're in Seattle, Alaska, Idaho or the Bay Area, use my name for your referral and I get a credit (Tapati McDaniels).

I have been doing some gardening again in my little deck with the paltry 3 hours of sun. I'm growing mostly flowers and herbs this year, having given up on vegetables. They seem to be happy so far. Mint, thyme, rosemary, basil, chamomile, geraniums and petunias have joined my spider plant, cacti and succulents.

I do check in to read LJ fairly often even when I'm not writing and do enjoy your posts.

Can you get a stand for the laptop, so that you don't have to crane your neck down as much to use it? Or would that screw up your arms?

Oh, and for gardening in shade, I highly recommend impatiens and begonias. My garden when I was a kid was under a tree, and impatiens and begonias would grow in the really shady areas where not much else would. They're better in shade than geraniums or petunias, even.

I have the laptop on a pillow already but if I get it high enough for my neck I can't type.

I don't have full shade so whatever I put on my deck has to also tolerate a measly few hours of sun. It's not enough sun for veggies though. What I have now seems happy and I'm out of pots so I'll look into those next year. Thanks!

Yeah I had a two level fusion in my c-spine and it got rid of the arm pain right away. I read about artificial disks and they also have their drawbacks. The docs wanted to go with fusion and I just went with that. I know that looking down on the laptop is aggravating things (it would even if I still had disks, it's just not good for your neck).

i second the laptop stand. i ordered one to have after i have surgery in august. it's nice - you can either lay it flat across your lap or adjust the legs to however high / low you need it, and the top adjusts so you can tilt the computer.